


Lubenica

by Thebiwife



Category: ER (TV 1994)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Pregnancy, Season/Series 06, Workplace Relationship, bereavement, parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:54:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24112378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thebiwife/pseuds/Thebiwife
Summary: A series of small elaborations on/deviations from the plot of season 6 as Carol pieces together who Luka is and how she feels about him.Spoilers and dialogue from s6e1 onwards.
Relationships: Carol Hathaway/Luka Kovač
Kudos: 13





	1. Hrvatska

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Hrvatska', Croatian for 'Croatia'

When Carol looked at Luka when he cared for a child, it was apparent to her that Doug would never have dealt with this scenario the same. Luka was explaining to child the injury and treatment her mom was receiving, as the mother herself was lying in a coma, tubes and wires going in and out of her. Daunting to say the least for anyone, let alone a seven-year-old girl.

Sure, Doug had been, a great paediatrician, and most likely still is at his new post, not that Carol had received any updates from him to know any better. But Doug’s instincts were far more those of a doctor, doing everything to save a child’s life, not a father, doing everything to make a child’s feel safe, secure, happy even.

His running away to Seattle demonstrated that.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
While Luka was relieved that Carol, the only colleague to really have made any effort with him while he'd been working as a locum at County, only needed a couple of stitches after the coffee shop incident, he was happy to spend time with her one on one nonetheless. It was enough time together to reassure him that this (heavily pregnant) nurse was as wonderful as he’d heard from colleagues, albeit only in passing. He made sure to remember not only her name, but her smile, as he was sure to need the latter whenever they called him in to work in the ER.

She had admired his work, consoling the young girl earlier that day. Especially what Luka had said about kids being _better kept out of the dark_ struck a chord with Carol.

What would she say to her child, sorry, _children_ , once they were old enough to realise they didn’t have a daddy around?  
  
  


* * *

“You talk funny.”

“Hunter!” The child's mother berated him.

“Thankyou. Say _Ahh_ ,” Luka instructed the child and he obliged.

“That’s because he’s from very far away,” Carol smiled. 

“ _Hahh fahh?_ ”

“How far? So far that it’s dark already," Carol smiled, hoping that the quick Math in her head was correct, based on her limited knowledge of the generic Eastern European Geography she felt oblige to know due to her heritage on her Mom's side. As she took her gloves off and went to join Luka waiting in the doorway.

“So where _are_ you from?”

“Croatia.” 

“Oh. _Wow_ ,” she said, knowing she'd have to look where it was in relation to Ukraine on a map once she got home.


	2. Očinstvo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Očinstvo', Croatian for 'fatherhood / paternity'.

Something fluttered in Carol's lower abdomen as soon as Luka handed her the baby girl that they had delivered by emergency c-section. Although the mother didn’t survive, Carol was only thinking of two things, _Luka_ , and the baby who was pinking up in front of them.

Carol’s kind words, _you’re a good doctor_ , had actually meant more to Luka than she realised.

And she’d wanted to say more than she did.

She wanted to say _You’d be a good father_.  
  
  


* * *

Being Eastern Orthodox (to some extent), Carol recognised certain _things_ (habits, rituals) that Luka included in his impersonation of the priest at the patient's bedside on her deathbed.

“How did you know what to say?”

“I faked it. A little bit of Latin, a little bit of Croatian.”

“You faked it well!” Carol knew she shouldn't exactly be impressed, but as a Christian herself (lapsed Christian at best, perhaps sceptic were a better word), she was fascinated by the words he'd spoken. As they conversed, the twins began to tumble about, putting pressure on organs that Carol would rather they didn't, provoking a physical response from her.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah, it’s just they’re active, moving around down there.”

“May I?”

She couldn’t quite work out if her discomfort was her motherly protection over the babies, or merely her own protection over who she still saw herself as; _Doug’s girl._ Regardless, she nodded, and tingled somewhat as Luka's masculine hand touched the soft roughness of her scrubs and the vulnerability of her unborn children in her womb.

“Are you finishing soon?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Let’s grab a bite.”

* * *

  
As she sipped her soda after they'd finished eating, she kept trying to make an attempt to head home.

Upon her insistence, he asked if she'd be ok getting back and she nodded, although she could tell he wanted to ask her more, if there would be someone home to meet her, namely, the babies' father.

She wanted to tell him, but yet, that was something far too vulnerable to reveal about herself, despite the fact he could ask most of her colleagues in the Doctor's lounge and they'd undoubtedly happily divulge. 

"This is on me," Luka insisted, putting a few bills down on the table. "You'll have all of the expenses of parenthood ahead of you."

"Thanks, although I do have some experience of that."

Luka raised his eyebrows in intrigue.

"I tried to adopt a Russian girl a few years ago.”

Luka was impressed. “What happened? You’re clearly great mother material.”

“I’m sure it’ll be proven to me soon there’s far more to motherhood than carrying them for nine months and buying cute kiddie furniture."

The look on his face insisted she elaborate.

"I...attempted suicide. Five years ago. They refused my application for adoption because of it.”

“I’m sorry. It must’ve been really tough.”

“The failed adoption or the suicide attempt?”

“Both."

Carol giggled. "Meh, I’ve been through some stuff." 

“Haven’t we all."

"My fiancé at the time wasn’t keen on the idea either. Probably one of the reasons we didn’t work out.”  
  
"You’re doing well now though?”

“Yeah. Remarkably really, to say baby daddy isn’t around.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to pry.”

"You weren't." Carol struggle to stand. "Thanks for tonight Luka. Bye."


	3. Bundeva

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bundeva, Croatian for pumpkin

“Hey Luka. Want a lift?”

“In _that_ car?”

“It’s my Mom’s.”

The drive was only _kinda_ awkward - inducting the residents was a part of the nurse manager's job after all, It seemed unfair that the Locum didn't get the same treatment, especially as they'd had their fair share of meaningful moments between them. Albeit with patients present or the other nurses milling around.

Carol pulled up her car somewhere in Cicero, around the back of a Wal-Mart Supercentre, near the racecourse that was now derelict for the rest of the season.

“You live here?" she looked down at the Canal. "What about in winter?”

“In winter I go south."

“Like the birds."

Carol thought to herself, _of course, this one doesn't want to stick around either._

“See ya,” she said, driving the 1990s hatchback as he made his way down to the canalside.  
  


* * *

  
“Morning,” Luke smiled.

“Hey, you’re back.” Carol tried not to seem too happy about it, although she most definitely was.

“Dr. Weaver called me in.”

“I thought you went south for the winter,” Carol fluttered her hands as wings, which she realised may have come across as sarcastic, and retrieved her arms to her body, wrapping them around her baby bump.

“Soon. Before the first snow. You look great.”

“Really? I feel like an overgrown pumpkin.”

“Pumpkin?”

“You know, the big round orange thing you carve on Halloween.”

“Oh, _bundeva_.”

Carol nodded, assuming he'd chosen the right word. Although she was pretty certain that the latinos just called it a _calabaza_ regardless of which type of squash it was, maybe the Croatians did the same.

“Actually, I’d say more like a... _lubenica_ "

“What is that?”

“I forget how to say it in English. See ya.”

“ _Lubenica_...” Carol whispered to herself, hoping she'd remember it, at the very least to ask her Mom if it meant anything in Russian. 


	4. Oči

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Oči', Croatian for 'eyes'

“Oh my God,” Carol said. Her waters had broken, not only on the El, but on the El travelling  _ away _ from the hospital. 

“Carol! Carol, are you alright?” Luka asked. He’d spotted Carol on the bench at Washington station on his way to County, for his first day as a fully-fledged member of their ER team.

“My water broke,” Carol said.

“How long ago?” Luka tried to remember the fundamentals of contraction Math, although it had been a while since his wife had given birth to his two children.

“Fifteen minutes.”

“You’re already having contractions? How many?”

“Two.”

“How far apart?”

“Seven, eight minutes.” 

_ I suppose 15 divided by two is about right,  _ he thought to himself, annoyed he was asking so many annnoying questions. 

“Did anyone call an ambulance?” There went another.

“No, County’s just one stop back.”

“Why didn’t you get on that train?”

“You try walking during labour pain.”

“Yep,” Luka nodded, _fair enough_. “How far along are you?”

“38 weeks.”

“Was the amniotic fluid clear?”

“Kinda hard to tell on the El.”

“So no meconium?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Good, good.”

“Don’t worry, I could be at this a while.”

“I tell you what, we’ll wait for the next train, If the train doesn’t come soon, we call an ambulance.”

“Oooooh,” Carol breathed through the pain. “Yeah.” 

It was daunting the person here with her. Luka knew, from what Carol had said, there was no father of the twins in the picture, not strictly so. She'd mentioned her Mom, but no other family. It was really even evident to him who her closest work colleagues were; the nurses all loved her, but as much as you could love your manager when she was heavily pregnant with twins and had had her feet up the last month or so she was working. Mutters of _why hasn't she taken maternity leave already_ went around the break room, few of which Luka had overheard. But he got it, whatever happened with the father of the twins, whoever this guy was, the last thing Carol had needed was to be home alone thinking about how things had ended. 

He helped her onto the train as it arrived. “Ok, little step.” _One small step for Carol, a giant leap towards not giving birth on a subway platform._

Although he doubted giving birth on the train itself would be any better.

“Thankyou for doing this.”

“Not a problem, it’s ok,” he lied.

“Oh God,” she yelled again.

“Is it a contraction.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Ok, sit here.”

“Oh!”

“Standing’s better huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you taken a birthing class?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, breathing as she’d been taught.

Luka looked around. “Look at something, try to stare at something, stay focused.”

He didn't know she had chosen his eyes.


	5. Oksitocin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oksitocin, Croatian for Oxytocin, the hormone that relieves pain

They soon made it to the El stop by County, no thanks to the intervention by a lovely older gentleman, wanting to pull the emergency lever. The last thing Carol wanted was to slow this whole thing down. Although, despite the pain, she could probably look into Luka’s eyes to distract her, the dark and deep, visual oxytocin.

“Let me just sit for a second,” she said, once they were on the platform. 

Despite the time it took travelling one stop, it felt to Luka as though they were back where they started. “You’re in active Labour.”

“Oh gee you think!” she said sarcastically.

He looked hurt.

“I’m sorry I just…”

“You might have progressed more than you think.” 

He was right. Carol hated to admit that Doctors knew more than she did, but right now, regardless of who had more experience, she was the patient. Or soon to be.

“I’m ok, it just hurts.”

“How dilated were you on your last visit?”

“Three centimetres on Monday.”

“Back pain?”

“I have, for the last three months.”

“Worse lately?”

“This morning,” Carol nodded.

“Ok, let’s go.” Luke attempted to get Carol onto her feet.

She wanted to sit right back down. “Can’t I have the babies here?”

“If you wanna make the news.”

She would have laughed in her delirium but it made the babies come quicker, or so it felt. “Oh God, I feel like they’re between my knees.”

“That’s the idea.”

“Ohh son of a bitch.”

Luka tried not to take it personally. “Ok, sit here, ok focus Carol. Carol.” He racked his brains for something to help get her from the El station to the Hospital. “Try humming.”

“Huh?”

“I know it sounds very strange, but just try it, it helped my wife, ok? Just hum like this. Hmmmmmmmmmm.”

Carol joined in, albeit hesitantly. Of course, he had a wife. What did he say happened to her again? Wracking her brain stopped her from keeping the humming a constant, but she supposed it was keeping her mind off her impending labour.

He managed to get her to the top of the stairs, having wrapped her scarf around her head as it was snowing again. She looked at home the way maybe her grandmother did in the Ukraine.

“You ready?”

“I think so.”

They took the first few stairs slowly.

“How long was your wife in labour?”

“16 hours, for the first one.”

“How many has she had?”

“Two. At different times.”

“Oh, well. They still live in Croatia?”

“No, not anymore.”

“Mmm. Ohhh!” Carol cried in pain.

“Ok, sit down. Deep breaths ok? Don’t worry, it’s probably a vagal reaction. Deep breaths.”

Carol continued to moan in pain. “I have to go to the bathroom!”

“Almost there.”

“No, I really have to go.”

“Can you stand?”

She shook her head.

“What is it? Another contraction? Already?”

She nodded, humming.

“Ok, don’t push. Listen to me, Carol, don’t push, ok? Carol? Carol?”

She lost consciousness.

**Author's Note:**

> A less popular ship than Hathaross (one fic on this whole site dedicated to Carol & Luka) but I thought I'd write this because there's definitely something I saw between them, and I haven't yet watched the show past Julianna's departure, so now's as good a time as any. 
> 
> Maybe we'll deviate further from the plot as we go?


End file.
